The first beta of Debian Edu based on Debian 8 has been released

The Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is pleased to announce the first *beta*
release of Debian Edu "Jessie" 8.0+edu0~b1, which for the first time is
composed entirely of packages from the current Debian stable release, Debian 8
"Jessie".

(As most reading this will know, Debian "Jessie" hasn't actually been released
by now. The release is still in progress but should finish later today

We expect to make a final release of Debian Edu "Jessie" in the coming weeks,
timed with the first point release of Debian Jessie. Upgrades from this beta
release of Debian Edu Jessie to the final release will be possible and
encouraged!

Please report feedback to debian-edu@lists.debian.org and/or submit bugs:
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs

Debian Edu - sometimes also known as "Skolelinux" - is a complete operating
system for schools, universities and other organisations. Through its pre-
prepared installation profiles administrators can install servers,
workstations and laptops which will work in harmony on the school network.
With Debian Edu, the teachers themselves or their technical support staff can
roll out a complete multi-user, multi-machine study environment within hours
or days.

Debian Edu is already in use at several hundred schools all over the world,
particularly in Germany, Spain and Norway. Installations come with hundreds of
applications pre-installed, plus the whole Debian archive of thousands of
compatible packages within easy reach.

For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and installation
instructions are available, including detailed instructions in the manual
explaining the first steps, such as setting up a network or adding users.
Please note that the password for the user your prompted for during
installation must have a length of at least 5 characters!

== Where to download ==

A multi-architecture CD / usbstick image (649 MiB) for network booting can be
downloaded at the following locations:

http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso
rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-
CD.iso .

The SHA1SUM of this image is: 54a524d16246cddd8d2cfd6ea52f2dd78c47ee0a

Alternatively an extended DVD / usbstick image (4.9 GiB) is also available,
with more software included (saving additional download time):

http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso
rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-
USB.iso

The SHA1SUM of this image is: fb1f1504a490c077a48653898f9d6a461cb3c636

Sources are available from the Debian archive, see
http://ftp.debian.org/debian-cd/8.0.0/source/ for some download options.

== Debian Edu Jessie manual in seven languages ==

Please see https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/ for the
English version of the Debian Edu jessie manual.

This manual has been fully translated to German, French, Italian, Danish,
Dutch and Norwegian Bokmål. A partly translated version exists for Spanish.
See http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/ for online version of the
translated manual.

More information about Debian 8 "Jessie" itself is provided in the release
notes and the installation manual:
- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes
- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual


== Errata / known problems ==

It takes up to 15 minutes for a changed hostname to be updated via DHCP
(#780461).

The hostname script fails to update LTSP server hostname (#783087).
Workaround: run update-hostname-from-ip on the client to update the hostname
immediately.

Check https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie for a possibly more
current and complete list.

== Some more details about Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~b1 Codename Jessie released
2015-04-25 ==

=== Software updates ===

Everything which is new in Debian 8 Jessie, e.g.:

* Linux kernel 3.16.7-ctk9; for the i386 architecture, support for i486
processors has been dropped; oldest supported ones: i586 (like Intel Pentium
and AMD K5).
* Desktop environments KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.11.13, GNOME 3.14, Xfce 4.12,
LXDE 0.5.6
* new optional desktop environment: MATE 1.8
* KDE Plasma Workspaces is installed by default; to choose one of the
others see the manual.
* the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 41
* LibreOffice 4.3.3
* GOsa 2.7.4
* LTSP 5.5.4
* CUPS print system 1.7.5
* new boot framework: systemd
* Educational toolbox GCompris 14.12
* Music creator Rosegarden 14.02
* Image editor Gimp 2.8.14
* Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.1
* golearn 0.9
* tuxpaint 0.9.22
* New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie.
* Debian Jessie includes about 43000 packages available for installation.
* More information about Debian 8 Jessie is provided in its release notes and
the installation manual, see the link above.

=== Installation changes ===

Installations done via PXE now also install firmware automatically for the
hardware present.

=== Fixed bugs ===

A number of bugs have been fixed in this release; the most noticeable from a
user perspective:

* Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break DNS
completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect information is
corrected (710362)

* shutdown-at-night now shuts the system down if gdm3 is used (775608).

=== Sugar desktop removed ===

As the Sugar desktop was removed from Debian Jessie, it is also not available
in Debian Edu jessie.


== About Debian Edu / Skolelinux ==

Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based on Debian
providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school
network. Directly after installation a school server running all services
needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users and machines
being added via GOsa², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting environment is
prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of the main server from CD
or USB stick all other machines can be installed via the network. The provided
school server provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service,
centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services.
The desktop contains more than 60 educational software packages and more are
available from the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, GNOME,
LXDE, Xfce and MATE desktop environment.

== About Debian ==

The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly free
community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of the largest
and most influential open source projects. Thousands of volunteers from all
over the world work together to create and maintain Debian software. Available
in 70 languages, and supporting a huge range of computer types, Debian calls
itself the universal operating system.

== Thanks ==

Thanks to everyone making Debian and Debian Edu / Skolelinux happen! You rock.


cheers,
Holger

  First Jessie based Debian Edu beta release